


Of Detergent and Fluorescent Lights

by Quari



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: College AU, Human AU, M/M, Professor AU, school au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 08:25:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8320834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quari/pseuds/Quari
Summary: He’d finished grading papers hours ago, and had a warm bed waiting for him at home. But he could never fall asleep in a half-empty bed, and so he stayed, keeping his boyfriend company during his late nights.





	

**Author's Note:**

> An AU my friend and I created in which Alfred and Arthur are professors at a university. They've been dating for months in secret from their students. Arthur tends to work too late.

Through half-shut eyes, Arthur saw a blurry shape move past his vision. It moved steadily from his left to his right. After a few seconds, the shape passed back in front of him, moving the opposite direction. This continued for an amount of time that Arthur’s tired mind couldn’t begin to guess. The steady, methodical movement of the blur in front of him began to lull him into a trance, pushing him closer to unconsciousness.

  


Alfred continued unloading clothes from the washing machine and placing them in the free dryer. He could feel the eyes of the few students unlucky enough to be doing laundry so late at night. He noticed the students that stopped to stare in the door as they walked by, even if only for a split second. There was murmuring in the far corner, questions about why the professors were here together, why they were here at midnight, why they were doing laundry at the school.

  


Alfred knew he had to tune them out. Arthur wanted things kept private, and despite his usual demeanor, Alfred knew it was better that way. He knew a couple of bored college students trying to start rumors would never amount to anything. He knew the kids giving him strange looks would forget about it by morning, if they hadn’t already.

  


He was just thankful Arthur was too tired to notice. Alfred understood his trepidation about making their relationship public knowledge. Arthur was a private man in any situation, let alone when he was dating a coworker. And being in an administrative position made the notion of others finding out even more intimidating. Somehow, they had managed to move in together without making things obvious. Most of the staff had a hunch, but thankfully none of the students were aware.

  
Lost in thought, Alfred found himself reaching back into the machine without realizing it was empty, grasping for clothes that weren’t there anymore. He laughed quietly to himself. He didn’t even need to be here this late. He’d finished grading papers hours ago, and had a warm bed waiting for him at home. But he could never fall asleep in a half-empty bed, and so he stayed, keeping his boyfriend company during his late nights.

  


Fishing around in his pocket, he deposited quarters in the dryer. As the clothes spun, he became momentarily transfixed by the sight. Arthur’s wardrobe was mostly dark, and the swirling vortex of grays and dark blues made him feel as if he was slowly being pulled into a black hole.

  


He snapped himself out of it when he realized his mouth was hanging open. He glanced around nervously, hoping no students had caught him in his slack-jawed stupor. He hadn’t realized, but the room was now clear of students, leaving only the couple. He looked over at the now completely asleep Arthur. Alfred thought he looked pretty. Someone more poetic might have thought about what it meant to still find someone attractive in the unflattering glow of the shitty fluorescent lights. A deeper thinker might have wondered if this was what true love was supposed to be, there in the silence of the dead of night, save for the steady thumping of the clothes dryer. But Alfred just thought he looked pretty.

  


He thought briefly, wondering if the right course of action was to wake him up and usher him back to his work. Or he could do the caring thing, and let him stay here a while, getting the rest he so desperately needed. He was lying to himself by mulling it over. He was going to pick the latter from the start.

  


He sat as delicately as he could next to Arthur, trying not to wake him. As he settled in, the British man shifted slightly. Alfred panicked briefly, but found that Arthur only let his head slump sideways, onto the younger man’s shoulder.

  


Alfred sat staring into space. This was okay. He could stay like this as long as his boyfriend needed, thinking to himself and trying to keep his eyes open. He pledged to be there, smiling and ready with a coffee, when Arthur woke up.

  


Or maybe tea. Arthur would want tea.


End file.
